Call of Duty: Roman Wars Was a Thing That Nearly Happened

Call of Duty Roman Wars

So it’s transpired that back in 2008, Activision nearly greenlit a Call of Duty game set during the Gallic Wars, under the reign of Julius Caesar. The project was initially pitched as ‘Call of Duty: Roman Wars’, following Caesar’s 10th legion in their campaign against the Gauls.

How this came about goes like this; back in 2008 Activision, realising that COD’s Modern Warfare series would soon come to an end, allowed a few developers to pitch an idea that could possibly lead the highly lucrative IP in a new direction. If they like the idea, they’d greenlight the project and said developer would receive full rights to use the Call of Duty intellectual property.

A little company by the name of Vicarious Visions, who’d later go onto Skylanders fame in 2010, pitched up with their idea of COD: Roman Wars and even demonstrated a couple of levels and segments they’d thrown together. Utilising a combination of 3rd person and 1st person perspectives with a healthy focus on tactical melee combat, Roman Wars was loosely based off the parry-attack combat system of Condemned: Criminal Origins. This was to be fleshed out with a hearty assortment of classical weaponry; axes, bows, spears, maces and the like.

Allegedly, Activision were especially impressed with a 1st person, one on one gladiatorial combat segment, where developers were contemplating adding a blinding mechanic, allowing players to throw sand into the eyes of their opponent to create an opening for a lethal strike. Another segment VV designed showcased a level more akin to an ‘Ancient Era’ Battlefield, where players could make use of vehicles, siege equipment and ride war elephants to literally crush their opposition in colossal multiplayer battlefields.

GamesRadar were the first to receive this tip from an anonymous source claiming to be a member of the development group assigned to Vicarious Victories’ pitch, named Fireteam. Going by Polemus, the source provided GamesRadar with some footage of the original presentation, showing rather rudimentary but fairly polished alpha footage of Gears of War-esque 3rd person combat whilst stating that this was one of the two directions they had proposed to take the game, the other being the aforementioned 1st person iteration. From the sounds of things, Activision were some way toward giving Vicarious Victories the go ahead, with the proposal making it all the way to the desk of CEO Bobby Kotick before being passed over in favour of a pitch that led to Advanced Warfare.

Now, whilst all of this may indeed have been for the best, it’s an objective fact that Advanced Warfare was not nearly as well received as its predecessors. The now notorious trailer for Infinite Warfare has become one of the most disliked videos in Youtube history, defeating even the Lovecraftian monstrosity that is Rebecca Black’s ‘Friday’. This fact, in conjunction with the overwhelming praise Battlefield 1 has received for its return to a World War 1 setting, begs to question; had Activision the foresight, would greenlighting Roman Wars have avoided the near terminal stagnation that now plagues the ailing franchise? I guess we’ll never know.

War elephants, man. Jesus.

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